


under my skin (a.k.a five lies, one truth)

by markhyuckfest, sunfull



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 03:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16653493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markhyuckfest/pseuds/markhyuckfest, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunfull/pseuds/sunfull
Summary: Prompt number:#MH093Side Pairings (if any):(implied) Renjun/Jeno/JaeminSummary:Prompt: "It takes real effort in order to annoy the ever so understanding and patient Mark Lee, so Lee Donghyuck must really be something else if his presence is enough to work up the other.Everyone know’s this, that’s why they’re all confused why all that’s coming out from Mark’s mouth are stories about Donghyuck, and he even accidentally calls his friends by the said boy’s name all the time."





	under my skin (a.k.a five lies, one truth)

**Author's Note:**

> Author Note: i think i strayed from the original prompt a bit (a lot) but i really hope you enjoy this! i really loved your prompt and i tried to do it justice, but i think i might be lacking. yes, this is a glorified 5 + 1 fic. i took notes of your do's and don't (s) and i tried to cram as much fluff as possible hahaha.
> 
> EDIT: thank you so much for all the sweet feedback! there's a couple of spelling and grammatical errors that i really wanted to change while i was re-reading this haha.

Mark considers himself to be a patient person.

Most days he theoretically has the patience to wait in line for days or at the very least at the other end of a phone call where he tries to cancel his cable subscription for a few hours. He also safely waited at least a week, until he finally knocked on his neighbour’s door because of their overenthusiastic sex lives, so he’d say his tolerance is pretty high. 

His friends at the very least could probably vouch for him. If they were asked to describe Mark’s personality in a few adjectives, ‘patient’ would probably be one of them. Sure, it wouldn’t be the first, but it probably wouldn’t be the last either.

The point is, Mark is a very patient person.

The only person who seems to be an exception to this trait of Mark’s, is Donghyuck which is understandable if you’ve ever met a person like Donghyuck, really.

Usually Mark is the very epitome of patience, but somehow Donghyuck always gets under his skin. Not in a way where he could just simply ignore him either. Lee Donghyuck is the kind of person who lingers in any way possible. Like a particularly stinky fart on a hot and humid day or the bad taste left in your mouth after you try expired food.

Donghyuck’s the kind of person who overstays his welcome at a housewarming party... only to end up getting invited to come over again. 

Because as much as Mark likes to complain about him, Donghyuck gets to him more than anybody else he’s ever met. Donghyuck is adorable, endearing and attentive, and as much as Mark tries to pretend to be annoyed about how much attention Donghyuck seems to direct at him, he loves it.

He likes the way Donghyuck always seem to try to catch his eye and pull a funny face, the way he intertwines their arms together despite the fact that he always recoils. Even his awful ketchup-themed gifts. Mark likes Donghyuck, plain and simple. All of Donghyuck’s efforts to annoy Mark really stopped being a bother, a year into meeting him.

But Donghyuck goes out of his way to annoy the hell out of Mark and he gets a cute satisfied look on his face every time he manages to do it, so Mark figures he might as well act the part. 

 

///

 

Donghyuck leans in close, makes sure that his entire right side is pressed up against Mark’s before he smirks, “What are you going to do about it?”

Mark crinkles his nose, pretending to be annoyed in his attempt to suppress a helpless smile. His car had broken down, half an hour before school started so he had no choice but to ride along with Jeno. The only other driver in their friend group and coincidentally Donghyuck’s neighbour. 

Normally, Donghyuck makes a big fuss about who gets the shotgun seat but for some reason he chooses to sit in the backseat today, pushing the all-too-willing Renjun (who rides along to school with them) to take the front seat. Then promptly shoves Jaemin into the corner of the backseat, taking the middle for himself, leaving Mark with literally no other choice but to sit beside him.

The first words out of Mark’s mouth the moment he opened the car door was, ‘I think, I’ll walk.’, before Donghyuck pulled him in the car forcibly, telling Jeno to lock the door and drive off. 

Now, Donghyuck is grinning smugly making a show out of cuddling into Mark’s side despite his loud protests.

Mark sighs, relaxing back into his seat. He could bluff the entire ride and keep trying to pull away but he really couldn’t be bothered. Besides, Donghyuck looks pretty content right now with his eyes slowly drifting shut. It’s only a fifteen minute ride to school. Mark could indulge himself just this once, he put up enough of a fight that his friends wouldn’t really suspect him.

He hears a snort from beside him and he turns to see Jaemin mouthing ‘whipped’. Mark resists the urge to flip him off, rolling his eyes at him instead. He’d thought that was the end of that but then Jaemin opens his big mouth to say, “You’re whipped man,”

Mark tenses up, takes a quick glance at Donghyuck to see that he’s started napping on his shoulder, before saying. “Shut the fuck up.”

Jaemin reaches across the backseat, taking care not to jostle Donghyuck too much, to pat Mark’s shoulder. “Everyone in this car, except Donghyuck knows that you like him man. Your relationship’s a bit confusing because you’re always annoyed at him, but if that’s how you flirt-”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man. Donghyuck’s the one who makes it his life’s mission to annoy me. Whenever I come over to hang out with him, he always insists on coming closer and closer until we’re practically sharing the same air. Even when we’re doing something that requires us to be apart, he’s always in my space. One time we went out to watch some movie about some children with superpowers and he lifted up the armrests just to cuddle-”

Renjun’s fake gag interrupts him mid-story, “We don’t want to hear about your pseudo-dates dickwad, just admit that you like him and his clingy ass. We don’t want to third-wheel this weird push and pull relationship you guys have.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Dongh-” Mark cuts himself off, realizing what he just said and promptly shuts his mouth. Renjun just snorts, turns back to face the front, staying quiet for the rest of the ride.

It was, admittedly, a loss for Mark.

 

///

 

The park had been relatively empty when Mark gets there. A few stray joggers and families taking up most of the picnic areas near the path but not to the point where there weren’t any decent places left. 

Donghyuck had given Mark the task of bringing the picnic blanket and utensils, banning him from providing food.

"Homemade or store-bought, you're just a disaster with food, Mark Lee." 

Mark agreed reluctantly because past experiences has proved Donghyuck to be right. Well aware of that, Donghyuck after promptly assigning Mark with the task then told him to be there half an hour before everyone else to ‘set up’ the picnic blanket.

"It takes like two minutes to do it-"

"Exactly! Mark, please you live like ten minutes away, it's not that bad."

Despite his complaints, Mark still showed up on time. Jisung and Chenle joins him, claiming that they had nothing better to do but Mark knows Donghyuck probably sent them along to make sure Mark actually did get there early. If their obviously annoyed demeanour means anything, they probably didn’t want to get there early either.

Mark manages to convince them to help him set up and like he’s predicted, it takes takes exactly two minutes to lay some blanket on the grass and set up the utensils in an aesthetically pleasing way. He’s tempted to get on Donghyuck’s case about it, but he figures he’ll just rub it in his face when he gets there.

After twenty minutes, Renjun and Jaemin arrive. 

Another five minutes then Jeno arrives alone and without Donghyuck.

Mark is just about to ask about his whereabouts, when Jeno holds up a finger as he hurriedly types a message on his phone. Then signals for Mark to pick up his phone just in time for it to ring.

He sees the caller ID and presses before it can get to the second ring, “Donghyuck?”

Coughs filter through the phone and the only words Mark manages to parse out in-between is, “Can’t come. Sick.” before Donghyuck hangs up. It takes a moment for it to fully sink in, until Mark realizes what Donghyuck just said.

Donghyuck cancelled on them.

Donghyuck, the person who planned the picnic in the first place, cancelled on them because he was sick. 

Mark sighs, his whole motivation to have this picnic just dissipating. 

It’s not like Donghyuck was the only reason Mark agreed to go, it was honestly fun just to hang around with his friends hence why he’s with them right now. But after Donghyuck’s last-minute call, all he really wants to do is come over to Donghyuck’s place and take care of him.

Instead, he’s at the local park absentmindedly chewing on baby carrots from the veggie plate Chenle brought.

Without Donghyuck there, as cheesy as it is, everything just seems to be a lot less enjoyable. His easy-going personality makes conversation flow a lot easier, his smile making everything a lot brighter, even his petty insults make everything more entertaining. 

That’s probably why Mark says what he says next. “This weather reminds me of that one time Donghyuck tripped while playing soccer and how he somehow managed to make it my fault. I was the goalie, how the hell was I supposed to know he was gonna trip? It’s not like I’m a midfielder.” 

He was aiming to be reminiscent, hoping to lull everyone else into ranting about their own experiences with Donghyuck being petty but all it really gets is a couple of confused and exasperated looks before Jeno finally breaks the silence with a sigh.

“I know you miss Donghyuck and all, but this is the fifth time you’ve talked about him in the half an hour we’ve been at this park and this is kind of sad. At least your previous rants about him involved something we were talking about. Now, you’re just really just making excuses to talk about him, if you’re relating it back to weather. You weren’t even listening to what we were talking about were you?”

Mark scoffs, blushing. “Of course, I was.”

Jeno gives him a look, not fooled in the very least. 

He didn’t even realize he was talking about Donghyuck that much. 

Honestly, he really was just saying whatever came to his mind but it probably wasn’t wise to say that in the current situation he’s in so he settles for. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I was listening! I just didn’t know how to reply to… whatever it was that was being said”

“You can keep pretending like you think we don’t know, if you want. It’s not gonna make it true.” Renjun says, shooting him a look before flopping back to lie down on Jaemin’s lap. 

Mark groans, burying his face in his hands.

Jisung snorts, “He’s not wrong. It’s pretty clear that you guys like each other. The only thing we don’t really understand is why you and Donghyuck aren’t together yet.”

Mark shoves a handful of chips into his mouth to avoid talking, praying that his friends would just let it die. He honestly thought he’d been subtle, but if Jisung, of all the people can tell, then he’s obviously not doing a very good job. “It’s not like that, okay? The only reason I keep bringing him up this much is because he’s not here today so I feel like I’m obligated to.”

Chenle laughs, loud and high. “You think this is helping you sell your point, but all it really does is reiterate ours.”

Before Mark could even reply, his phone buzzes with a new message from Donghyuck.

 **From:** Donghyuck

Mark, come over and bring some skittles with you, please?

Mark looks around to see everyone else giving him an amused look and he’s almost tempted to ignore the message just to prove them wrong but he only really manages to do it for fifteen seconds before he caves. 

It’s not like they knew who he was texting anyway.

 **From:** Mark

Aren’t you sick? You’ll get soup.

Not even five seconds later, another message comes from Donghyuck that has Mark putting on his jacket and getting ready to leave.

 **From:** Donghyuck

You’re such a loser :( but Italian wedding please~

“Guys, I have to go.” Mark says, gathering his things. He purposely ignores Jaemin when he makes a whipping sound, shoving his water bottle into his backpack and taking out his metrocard before taking off.

“Say hi to Donghyuck for me!”

“Fuck off!”

 

///

 

“I think I’m available Thursdays and Sundays this week to work on our project?” Seungmin says, reading out from his organizer.

Mark doesn’t even have to think twice before he responds, “Can’t do Sundays, I have a long-standing commitment with one of my friends to marathon movies that day but Thursday sounds great.”

Seungmin scratches his head, raising his eyebrows. “I mean, I don’t want to interrupt tradition or anything but this is a pretty big project man, don’t you think we need more time to work on it?”

Mark waves him off, “Nah, don’t worry I got the basic notes from the previous lectures done and I already did my research so I basically have a whole template for it done, all you need to is get your stuff done for Thursday and we can just compile it and organize it together. Should be done in a day?”

Seungmin sighs, relieved. “Oh shit really? Thank god, do you need any more help? I kind of feel like I didn’t contribute enough.”

Mark grins, “Bring some food on Thursday and we’ll call it even man, don’t worry.”

“You got it, it’s nice that you and your friend have this tradition. That’s all too rare nowadays,”

Mark nods and starts packing his things for his next class, “Yeah, Donghyuck and I started this thing back when we met and we never stopped. It’s always shitty B-rated scary movies with equally shitty sound effects and props but it’s all good. Donghyuck always manages to spill something in my room though, so half the time we also end up cleaning up his mess.”

Seungmin pauses, “Wait, Donghyuck? Like Lee Donghyuck? I thought you hated him, you always act like you hate his guts.”

Mark knows that’s probably the reasonable assumption to make given how he treats Donghyuck in school but it still never fails to shock Mark why they’d assume so. If he really hated Donghyuck so much, he’d go out of his way to avoid him not take every opportunity to be around him.

They’re in two completely different years and Mark always makes the effort to go Donghyuck’s class whenever it’s his lunch period. Actually scheduled his free period to coincide with it, really. He joined the choir club just so he can have more excuses to hear Donghyuck sing. Mark even went and became a part of the school musical’s stage crew because he knows Donghyuck got the lead.

But no one really knows about all of that. 

And if Mark had his way, hopefully no one ever would or the whipped jokes would never stop coming. 

Besides, all the clubs he’d ended up joining because of Donghyuck’s tendency to just go back and forth between different ones has made his resume letter a bit lengthy, so he has a valid excuse every time the topic of why he always joins the clubs that he does gets brought up.

Seungmin waves a hand in front of his face to catch his attention and Mark quickly shakes his head, feeling the tips of his ears turn red as he says. “That’s just how relationship works.”

Seungmin stares before a slow grin starts to spread over his face. “That’s cool, not gonna lie I was always confused why you two always seemed to be together but I get it now.” he says, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Mark can see the _correct_ assumption that Seungmin’s starting to make, so he hastens to reason it out. “I know what you’re thinking- No, I don’t. He just happens to be a big part of my life I swear. It’s seriously not like that, Donghyuck. I mean, Seungmin-”

Seungmin claps, giddy, pulling his backpack on his shoulder before rushing to the doors “I get it now, totally just proved my point. Godspeed!”

Mark slaps a hand over his face, and resists the urge to groan.

 

///

Mark’s busy painting a stage prop when Hyunseung sidles up beside him, nudging his side with a pointy shoulder. He moves away to avoid contact just in time, dragging his paintbrush across the plywood faster to appear busy. 

Hyunseung’s the kind of guy who gets on Mark’s nerves. Not in the endearing way that Donghyuck does. No, Hyunseung’s annoying because every time he talks to you, you know he has an objective. It’s either he’s borrowing money or asking for an unreasonable favour that no one in their right mind would ever do.

Mark can usually shake him off without even uttering a word to him, claiming to be busy but he can’t really escape if they’re in the same club. So, Hyunseung persists, poking Mark in the arm as if he wasn’t completely aware that Mark was ignoring him. “Hey Mark, you talk to Donghyuck right?” 

Mark shakes his head, “No, he annoys me and I’m forced to listen.”

Hyunseung nods, “Right, so you wouldn’t happen to know if he’s single right? Guess you can’t talk me up to him either, unless you can? Ah, doesn’t matter I’ll just go and ask him out. He should be here soon right?”

Before Mark knows it, he’s holding his leg out just as Hyunseung stands up from his crouch beside him. Hyunseung trips, his fall resulting in a loud thud across the stage just as Donghyuck comes into the auditorium. It catches the attention of the entire stage crew, the work momentarily pausing to see what the commotion was.

Mark admits that he does feel bad because it did look particularly painful, so he apologizes, helping Hyunseung up. Donghyuck walks up to the stage with a questioning look that Mark waves off, mouthing ‘I’ll tell you later’ to Donghyuck who merely tilts his head then goes backstage to change.

Mark shrugs when Hyunseung gives him an incredulous look seeing the interaction between Mark and Donghyuck, “Sorry, didn’t mean to trip you but you didn’t let me finish, he likes someone right now. Probably isn’t wise... to ask him out you know?”

Mark goes back to his work, pressing his lips together to avoid blurting out more unreasonable things. He knows what he did was completely uncalled for. Mark’s never actually gone far enough to do something every time he felt jealous.

He knows the way he’s feeling doesn’t justify what he did. The irritated feeling that rose up when Hyunseung talked about asking Donghyuck out, pushed him to do something impulsive and stupid that would have resulted in some serious injuries if the stage was messier. 

If Hyunseung had been meaner he could’ve called Mark out on it but instead he just rolled his eyes, muttering something that probably wasn’t the most flattering towards Mark before leaving the auditorium. Seulgi tried to call out to him to finish his work but he just yelled out, “Mark will do it, he owes me one!”

And yeah, okay. Mark did, so he just nods at Seulgi, dragging Hyunseung’s unfinished props towards his side to add to his work pile. 

Fifteen minutes later, Donghyuck comes out, dressed in his Peter Pan costume. A green felt hat resting on his light brown hair, long dark green tunic, cinched at the waist with a dark brown belt and an attached pouch, brown tights, green pointed shoes, and the added glitter around his eyes and neck. 

Donghyuck shuffles around the stage, leaning over the shoulders of the stage crew to take a look at the progress of the stage props. The bright lights of the stage illuminates the glitter that apparently extends all the way down to his collarbones and Mark can’t help but be stunned. He swallows, feeling the flush rise up to his cheeks. 

He’s the most beautiful person that Mark’s ever seen.

Donghyuck waves at Mark in his best imitation of Peter Pan, skipping over to get to him. The glitter that’s meant to be pixie dust in his pouch spills over some of the stage crew’s work and Donghyuck almost gets hit with a marker that Yuta throws at him in anger but he just laughs and skips away.

He twirls when he finally reaches Mark, “What do you think?”

There’s glitter everywhere now and it makes him all the more ethereal. Mark reaches out a hand to tweak one of Donghyuck’s ears, “Aren’t you supposed to have elf ears?”

Donghyuck scoffs, “It’s Peter Pan, Mark. Not, Lord of the Rings.” 

Mark relents, moves his hand to cup Donghyuck’s cheek, brushing away some of the glitter that’s getting too close to his eyes. “The animated version has it- what’s this glitter for anyway? You’re not Tinker Bell.”

Donghyuck leans into his touch, looking up at Mark through his eyelashes. “You don’t like it?”

Mark’s next breath gets caught in his throat. 

This close, Mark can see traces of the peach eyeshadow smeared around Donghyuck’s eyes, the dusky pink tint that’s been used on his lips. He leans in to see anymore details that he might’ve missed, Donghyuck’s eyes fluttering shut as if to grant him permission when something hits Mark on the head.

He backs away automatically, looking up to see who threw whatever it was at him to see Yuta holding up his middle finger. Mark flips one back at him and looks to the ground to see one of Yuta’s paintbrushes.

“Finish your work, idiot!”

Mark launches the paintbrush back at him.

He misses but when Donghyuck goes backstage again to change back to his casual clothes, he tilts the entire bag of glitter on top of Yuta’s head, running away before he can get pummelled.

 

///

 

Mark’s a patient person, he swears.

But for some reason, the entire week has been testing him and today just takes the cake. 

In addition to Mark completely forgetting about a big assignment due the next day, waking up late and completely missing his first class, getting drenched because he forgot to bring his umbrella - Donghyuck’s also mad at him because Mark shoved him away particularly hard in his latest attempt to get Mark’s attention. 

“Don’t be annoying,” Mark says, shoving Donghyuck aside when he tried to lean against him.

The hurt look that took up Donghyuck’s face when he got shoved is enough for Mark to apologize on the spot, only for Donghyuck to hold a hand up and completely ignore his attempt, moving to sit beside Jeno on the other side of the table. 

Now, Mark’s chewing through his stale granola bar, watching as Donghyuck winds his arms around Jeno’s neck to beg for a tater tot.

His legs are flung over Jeno’s lap, long enough to extend past him to also land on Renjun’s lap beside him. Renjun, who’s amused enough at the situation to wiggle his eyebrows at Mark and to also take part in whatever Donghyuck’s doing by leaning across Jeno to feed Donghyuck one of his dumplings. 

When Jaemin arrives to see his seat beside Jeno taken by Donghyuck, he takes one look at Mark, then at Renjun, then at Jeno and finally at Donghyuck before letting out a loud laugh. He winks at Mark before squishing into the seat beside Donghyuck to place a brief kiss on his cheek. 

Mark narrows his eyes, kicking Jaemin’s leg under the table. 

Jaemin shoots him a cheeky smile, turning back to Donghyuck to wind a stray piece of his hair around his finger. “So, what did Mark do now?”

Donghyuck makes a face, but chooses to ignore the question by leaning into Jaemin's touch.

“The usual shit, he’s taking his anger out on us because he’s had a shitty day. Poor Donghyuck here, getting the brunt of it.” Renjun replies instead, waving his chopsticks around.

“I apologized almost immediately after I did it, he’s not listening to me. I didn’t mean it, I never do.” Mark mumbles, kicking Jeno’s leg this time when he tickles Donghyuck’s chin. 

Jeno just smiles serenely at Mark, before he wipes some stray crumbs from the corner of Donghyuck’s lips. “He doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to. Honestly, Donghyuck you should just date us. Jaemin, Renjun, and I have enough love to go around, we don’t need Mark.”

Mark grits his teeth, and tries to look unaffected. 

He knows Jeno’s just messing with him but it doesn’t mean he can’t be annoyed. After all, he’s probably the first one among their friends to find out about Mark’s feelings for Donghyuck. The way Mark acts whenever Jeno is extra affectionate to Donghyuck doesn’t help, of course. Mark only figured out that he was purposely being riled up when Jeno slipped and started laughing at Mark almost immediately after.

Jeno’s a menace.

Donghyuck removes his legs from Jeno’s lap, shifting around to sit properly and finally acknowledge Mark's existence again. “Thanks for the offer guys, but I kind of want to see how he’ll grovel his way out of this.”

Mark rolls his eyes, “I’m not going to grovel my way out of this, I already apologized.”

He was. Mark’s probably going to grovel harder than he ever did before just by saying that. 

Donghyuck doesn’t even deign him a look, choosing to inspect his nails instead. “You will.”

If Mark was thinking properly he probably would’ve chosen his next words more wisely.

“I won’t.” 

Donghyuck tilts head, “Fine.”

The cold tone behind it is something that he’s only heard once or twice before and to anyone who’s passing by it might look just look like a chilling remark but from Donghyuck, it means something more. 

Mark is definitely going to grovel for forgiveness. He doesn’t even know why he thought it was worth it to start this argument. Donghyuck’s already started ignoring him like he always does when he gets particularly mad at Mark.

Once, Mark thought Donghyuck probably couldn’t last a day without at least trying to get Mark’s attention but he was proven wrong quickly. The longest Donghyuck has managed to ignore him was three weeks and the only reason he really stopped was because Mark had grovelled.

He caved and thought of ways he could spoil Donghyuck despite never actually getting to see him and he was lucky enough that the rest of his friends felt sorry enough for him to help him out.

Donghyuck’s usually aware if he’s being petty or not. If he knows he’s the one at fault, he’d be apologizing by the end of the day but if it isn’t, he’ll make sure whoever wronged him is well aware that it’s their mistake.

Mark is stubborn so even if he knows he’s the one at fault, he’d probably stew over it for at least two days before he admits it and apologizes. Usually, that’d be the case but Mark’s already had a pretty bad day - there’s no reason to make it even worse.

Mark sighs, “Donghyuck,”

Donghyuck despite obviously hearing Mark call his name out, turns to strike a random conversation with Jaemin. 

Mark frowns, and Renjun mimics a whipping noise. And okay, yeah being ignored doesn’t feel great, it never does especially if it’s Donghyuck who’s doing it. Mark’s so used to Donghyuck being clingy to him, he’s kind of gotten dependent on it as a constant thing.

Jeno shakes his head, sipping at his juice box. “Dumbass.”

Mark levels a brief glare at him, before he tries again. “Donghyuck, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you,”

Donghyuck continues ignoring him.

He’s given up on his conversation with Jaemin who’s resumed eating his food again, choosing to rest his head on his shoulder instead. His fingers fiddle with the rings on his other hand, letting out a bored sigh.

Across the table Renjun makes a vague motion looking like he’s reaching across the table and grabbing something, then he lets out a frustrated noise at Mark not getting it and proceeds to grab Jeno’s hand, widening his eyes. He mouths, ‘Grab his hand’.

So, Mark does.

Not exactly grabbing right away, even he knows how stupid that’d be. He lets his fingers graze against Donghyuck’s first to test the waters and when he doesn’t pull away, Mark makes his move, slowly curling his hand over Donghyuck’s. 

“I’m sorry, I’m a very very shitty person who doesn’t deserve your forgiveness for the way I acted but if you choose to grace me with it, I will be forever grateful.”

Donghyuck clears his throat, looks away and slowly turns his hand upward to intertwine his fingers with Mark. “Perhaps, I could be persuaded to forgive you if you take me to that new breakfast place on Main Street.”

Mark grins, “Of course, I’d expect nothing else.”

Renjun coughs, “Grovel, my ass.”

This time, Jeno nudges him slightly and Renjun relents, pointedly rolling his eyes. Mark mouths a ‘thank you’ at him and takes the opportunity to play with Donghyuck’s fingers as he starts ranting about the latest online game he’d bought with hand gestures that threaten to hit Jaemin in the face. 

 

///

 

“Tell me again why you can’t come and go on a date with my friend? Last time I checked, you were single.” Yeri crosses her arms, leaning her hip against the counter.

Her voice is loud enough to echo across the empty cafe and Mark resists the urge to roll his eyes, wiping harshly against the coffee rings that have stained the table. He doesn’t know why he picked up a graveyard shift on a Friday night when he could’ve accepted Donghyuck’s offer to come over. He could’ve been at Donghyuck’s right now, pretending to hate his attempts to cuddle him. 

Donghyuck would’ve whined and probably would’ve wound up closer to curl up against Mark’s side. It would’ve been the cutest thing. Donghyuck never ends up staying awake throughout the entirety of a movie, but he always pretends like he didn’t end up falling asleep as he wakes up just as the credits are rolling.

Mark smiles at the mere thought of it. He only has around ten minutes left before the store closes, maybe he can still come over, make up some excuse about picking up the sweatshirt of his, that Donghyuck borrowed and end up staying the night. 

“Mark Lee! Don’t ignore me, this is a small shop. You literally have nowhere to go.”

Mark doesn’t try to restrain his eye roll this time, “I told you, I like someone. I’m not interested.”

Yeri sighs, “So you say, but it’s been two years, you honestly can’t tell me that you still like this person.”

Mark scoffs, almost offended at what she’s implying. 

What Yeri is referring to is a mere crush, Mark’s well aware that his feelings are past that point by now so he pointedly says. “If it’s been two years then what do you think it is by now?”

Yeri purses her lips in thought, nodding to herself. “Wow, an unrequited love huh? Never would have pegged you the type. People have always been charmed by you for a reason, I never got it and apparently this person doesn’t as well.”

“Who said it was unrequited,” Mark says, defensively.

Yeri’s grin slowly turns into a smirk. “Oh, I see. Are you in one of those, ‘kind of but not really dating situations’? Again, I didn’t expect this from you Mark. I thought you were braver.”

Mark swallows, throat closing up. The conversation’s taken a turn that suddenly feels a lot more personal than he’d expected. “Yeah well, it’s not very easy.”

Yeri seems to understand as she lets the conversation die, occupying herself by turning off the machines behind the counter to prepare for the store's closing. Mark turns back to the table he just cleaned, looking around to see if he could do anything else when the bell signalling the arrival of another customer rings.

“Sorry we’re about to close- Donghyuck? Isn’t it kind of late?” Mark looks up to see Donghyuck clad in the very sweater Mark was about to use as an excuse to visit him later on. A worn-out black knit sweater that fits Mark’s shoulders just right, but on Donghyuck seems to be looser, the sleeves stretching to cover half his palms. 

Donghyuck’s cheeks are still flushed from the cold autumn air, his hair is a tangled and tousled mess and a black scarf is haphazardly winded around his neck. His nose crinkles as if he’s still trying to adjust to the sudden heat of the shop but he looks very cozy and adorable.

Mark barely manages to resist the urge to gather him up in his arms.

But luckily Donghyuck doesn’t seem inclined to do the same as he moves forward to pull Mark in for hug. He pulls away shortly after with a shy smile on his face. “Your shift is ending soon and I wanted to walk you home, is that okay?”

Mark nods, blushing. His heart stuttering. “Let me go grab my stuff really quick, be right back.”

He’s not proud of the way he almost stumbles when he heads to the changing room in the back but the quiet giggle Donghyuck lets out softens the blow. Yeri raises her eyebrows at him, before shaking her head, grinning.

“I see how it is,” she says lowly, Mark flushes slightly nodding to acknowledge her statement before rushing to the back, grabbing his bag, and changing out of his clothes. Not even a minute later, Mark waves goodbye to Yeri as Donghyuck links their arms together 

As soon as the door closes behind them, Mark squirms out of Donghyuck’s hold, to intertwine their fingers instead. He quickly looks away to avoid seeing Donghyuck’s reaction but the strong grasp that follows afterward tells him that his gesture wasn’t unwelcome.

Donghyuck hums, swinging their hands together. “So, what were you and Yeri talking about?”

Mark shrugs, “Nothing much, she’s trying to set me up again.”

There’s a pause before Donghyuck speaks up again, his voice a lot quieter than before. “And what did you say?”

Mark tightens his hold around Donghyuck’s hand, “I said no.”

Donghyuck nods, resuming the swing of their hands together in-between them. 

It’s only ten o’clock at night but the streets seem to be more bare than the usual with the occasional car passing by in a rush. People are bypassing Mark and Donghyuck by walking briefly on the road, before moving forward to cut in front of them on the sidewalk. 

Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get home tonight, but Mark finds himself wishing that this moment will last forever, slowing down his pace even more.

“What was your reason?” Donghyuck says, almost whispering as he buries his face deeper into his scarf. 

“I said I was already interested in someone else. I mean, it’s probably beyond interest now. It’s been two years.” Mark replies, matching the tone of his voice to Donghyuck’s. “She said it’s probably love and that I should be braver.”

They walk for another minute in silence before Donghyuck speaks up. “You should… be braver, I mean. Whoever it is, they’d accept.” 

Mark pauses, before hurriedly pulling Donghyuck towards a nearby park, ignoring his attempts to call out Mark’s name, not stopping until they reach the fountain right in the middle. He looks around, palms sweating, taking both of Donghyuck’s hands in his.

He lets out a deep breath, grinning nervously when a passerby whistles and yells ‘good luck’ at him. When Mark looks up, Donghyuck shakily smiles at him, clearly uncertain, unknowingly strengthening Mark’s resolve when he says.

“I love you.”

His voice quiets down into a mutter towards the end but his confession is finally out there. He didn’t think he’d ever actually manage to say it but he did. Instead of feeling relieved however, Mark finds himself stiffening, holding his breath until Donghyuck finally responds. 

“I love you too, idiot. Took you long enough.”

Donghyuck interlaces their fingers again, closes his eyes, pulling Mark closer. “Can you kiss me now, please?”

Mark nods, tilts his head slightly, closing the distance between them with a kiss. Donghyuck leans in, his mouth slowly smiling into the kiss causing Mark to do the same. Their smiles widening until they’re forced to pull away, giggling.

“Not bad, Mark Lee.” Donghyuck nods, then looks around at the empty park. “Romantic, too.”

Mark grins, “I wanted to confess to you the moment we got out of the shop but I knew you’d give me shit if it wasn’t in a romantic place.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, moving closer until they’re sharing the same breath again. “You know me well.”

Mark nods, forgets to respond, going in for another kiss instead.


End file.
